It's not bloody half term!

[Dotdashdottinghell]

Why / when did every school holiday become half term?

The half term holidays are February, Whitsun and October, not Easter, Christmas and thr summer.

People keep saying "Happy half term" or "Enjoy the half term" etc. Why is this an accepted thing?

I don't get it either. It's the Easter holidays. Not 1/2 term.

Our school refers to them this way, it's multi denominational 🤷‍♀️

But that is the half term?
The week off is the half-term holiday.
The term is the period in school. Between summer and Xmas or Xmas and Easter etc. And each one is split into two halves

But it doesn’t matter whether it’s multi denominational or not. There are three terms (generally). This is the end of the second one. The third one will start in a couple of weeks time, or thereabouts. There will be a break in May and that’s half term - halfway between the start and the end of the summer term.

What a thing to waste cortisol on.

Who are you replying to? Yes, in February, May and October it is halfway through the term so it's half-term. At Christmas, Easter and Summer it's thr end of the term so calling it half-term is wrong.

Wtf is Whitsun? 😆 it's no different to people saying nonsense like that. 🙄 who says Whitsun in real life. By the way I always say half term for everything except summer holidays 😉

In England.

Other parts of the UK have different holidays.

i can confirm here in greater Manchester we still very much have three terms! Though these days they are are broken in winter 1&2, spring1&2, summer 1&2

our school still refers to the “Easter holidays” too. And “Christmas holidays”. Those festivals happen whether you celebrate them or not, surely.

Ohh, I’ve never thought about this. I just call them all half term, think everyone around me does. But yes, they all technically aren’t. Oh, I think I stopped referring to them as “the Easter holiday” because my autistic son took it literally to mean we were going on holiday. Sorry, kid we’re too poor! Half term it is.

@2chocolateoranges We lived up in the Highlands for a while. Whereas I was saying 'October half-term' they had tatty holidays! Loved that!

It really annoys me too at the moment, because I think they are talking about the next half-term holiday in May rather than the Easter Holidays.

That is acceptable IMO. Half term it ain’t.

Spring break is a US phrase. I want us to take back control of the English language and not adopt US expressions. Microsoft please note.

It matters because it’s loss of precision in language which will lead to confusion. If you say Easter holidays there’s absolutely no ambiguity. If you say spring half term now you might mean the May half term or you might mean the Easter holidays. If the words were being used accurately there would be no scope for confusion. Language changes but this change is clearly for the worse.
I don’t understand where it’s come from. The Easter holidays are at the end of a term, not halfway through it.

I work in education and have heard a few people call it half term! 🤦‍♀️

We have

Christmas holidays (2 weeks)
2 days in February
Easter holidays (2 weeks)
Various bank holidays
Summer holiday (6 or 7 weeks rotation)
October holidays (2 weeks)

All holidays.
No 'half terms'

Not got a clue when whitsun is.

Sorry - replying to the person that said calling the time in school the half term was wrong.

It annoys me as well. I think people who use the words half term for every school holiday are either ignorant or lazy

Massively annoys me too. Half terms are just that - half way through the term.

Then there's Easter holidays, Christmas holidays and summer holidays !

It doesn't really bother me, but that said are you on hoildays already? I thought they didn't start till end of the week!

I hear it called half term regardless of the holiday break - it used to be three terms, with a half term break but now they all seem to be considered terms.

It could well be one of those phrases where the meaning has gone. I'm sure it used to be referred to as a half-term break, or in a sentence like, "we are going to break for half-term" - so it was a little clearer that half-term referred to the time period (half of the term) rather than the holiday itself.

Being referred to as just "half-term", and having 6 terms rather than 3, makes it seem that half-term isn't a length of time, but a word for the term break itself (like off-season). So you have a term then a half-term (which would probably sound better as term break). So any holiday from school becomes a "half-term" with the exception of the "summer holidays"

🤷‍♀️can’t believe people actually care about this non issue.

Wtf is Whitsun?!

I saw this written on a blackboard outside a restaurant in Stratford upon Avon yesterday: 'Half Term!' followed by a selection of delights.
I was very tempted to rub it out.

The wrongness is now embedded.